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Sixth in a six-part series. Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Bramham explores the science of happiness through the lives of people who have made dramatic changes in their quest for meaning and contentment. What has it meant for them? For others? See all of their stories at vancouversun.com/happiness.

Canada is a happy place, but it’s no Bhutan.

The tiny, landlocked nation located between India and China is the only country to reject gross national product as a measure of progress. Instead, it is pioneering the idea of gross national happiness (GNH) and the idea that well-being is more important than material wealth.

In 1972, the former king of Bhutan declared that the goal of happiness would guide governance and policy. It is based in the cultural and religious belief that “the beneficial development of human society takes place when material and spiritual development occurs side by side to complement and reinforce each other,” according to the government’s website.

The World Happiness Report, published last year, devotes 50 pages to explaining how the GNH works, its roots in Bhutanese history and tradition, and how it enables the government and others to either “increase the percentage of people who are happy or decrease the insufficient conditions of people who are not-yet-happy.” Those not-yet-happy tend to be rural Bhutanese who have less education, lower living standards and no time for friends, family or community.

“We believe you cannot have a prosperous nation in the long run that does not conserve its natural environment or take care of the well-being of its people, which is being borne out by what is happening to the outside world,” Bhutan’s education minister, Thakur Singh Powdyel, told The Guardian in December.

“(Gross national happiness) is an aspiration, a set of guiding principles through which we are navigating our path toward a sustainable and equitable society. We believe the world needs to do the same before it is too late.”

Gallup’s global happiness survey doesn’t include Bhutan. But, using the European Social Survey, the Bhutanese average is 6.05 on a 10-point scale, while the European average is 7.01. It’s an extraordinary statistic, considering Bhutan is one of the poorest countries with a per-capita GDP of $6,500 and nearly one in four citizens living below the national poverty line.

(There should, however, be an asterisk to Bhutan’s happiness. Even though the GNH measures community vitality, psychological well-being, cultural diversity and resilience, what the Bhutanese government doesn’t like to talk about, and what the World Happiness Report didn’t mention, is the country’s human rights record. According to Amnesty International, there are ongoing reports of discrimination against ethnic Nepalese living in Bhutan and more than 100,000 ethnic Nepalese have been stripped of their Bhutanese citizenship since the early 1990s. These refugees, living in camps in eastern Nepal, constitute about one-sixth of Bhutan’s population.)

In Gallup’s happiness survey, Canada ranks second behind Denmark. In the last decade, Canada moved up from fifth in the global rankings.

But would Canada rise or fall using a happiness index similar to Bhutan’s? What might Canada be like if every resource project were balanced against the well-being of citizens?

Canadians have been getting happier since 2003, despite a decade of post-9/11 concerns about terrorism, troops in Afghanistan, a global economic crisis, massive restructuring, rapid escalation in house prices and coming ever closer to the point when there will be more retired Canadians than working ones.

In December, the Ottawa-based Centre for the Study of Living Standards found that 92.3 per cent of Canadians aged 12 and over are satisfied or very satisfied with their lives.

It offered no reasons why. Maybe it’s because more people — such as the ones I’ve written about over the past six weeks — are choosing happiness over drudgery, meaningful work over money.

One might suspect that our overall happiness quotient is rising because of an annually increasing number of carefree, retired baby boomers even as trailing generations grumble along behind, but it’s actually quite the opposite. The centre says there is a widening happiness gap between young and old. It is a worrying trend.

Far from freedom-55 and carefree, golden years, there’s rising anxiety among Canadians 45 and older. The report’s authors suggest it reflects concerns about the financial crisis, uncertainty over job prospects and diminished pension income.

But Holman Wang offers another compelling explanation. The 40-year-old lawyer turned children’s author and illustrator suggests that younger people are happier because their expectations are different.

“There was a certain time where most families were aspirational and just thought life could be better, better, better ...

“But most young people these days grow up in nice houses already. Even if they don’t grow up in nice houses, they realize that life is cyclical and is not always on a trajectory up. It’s not always about more. It’s not always about better.

“It’s about finding happiness and satisfaction now because it doesn’t always get better.”

There is also a geographic divide when it comes to happiness. Beautiful British Columbia’s citizens are among the unhappiest Canadians, barely beating out people in Ontario and Nunavut in the race to the bottom.

Again, it suggests that money is not the source of happiness since the happiest Canadians don’t live in the richest provinces. They are in Nova Scotia and Quebec.

As for happy cities, Vancouver is touted as one of the best places in the world to live. But when Statistics Canada asked residents how satisfied they are with life in general through the years 2003 to 2011, Vancouver landed below the Canadian average and tied for seventh with Winnipeg. Yes, Winterpeg.

Of course, there are 29 urban areas that fall below Vancouver.

And on the good side — this is about happiness, after all — Vancouverites are a lot happier now than in 2003.

Why? Nobody seems to know.

There is a certain fad-ishness about the First World’s quest for happiness that is easy to deride as an obsession of people who have nothing left to worry about.

That’s especially so since the way researchers are measuring happiness isn’t as inclusive as the Bhutan model with its emphasis on environmental sustainability.

Still, there’s nothing new about the interest in happiness. It’s been the focus of philosophers and religions since time began.

Even the academic interest isn’t new. One of the first long-term studies about the benefits of happiness was done more than 80 years ago.

Researchers divided nuns into four groups. And what the study, published in 1932 found, was that of those identified as the happiest, 90 per cent lived to be 85 or older. Among the unhappiest, 70 per cent were dead by 85.

What’s changed is that economists are now interested in the happiness effect.

Harvard psychology professor Shawn Achor has proven my mother right. If you have a positive attitude, you’ll do better.

His research found that doctors who told jokes before making diagnoses are up to 50 per cent more likely to be right than those who read medical research. Similar results were noted when students went to a movie before an exam rather than cramming at the last minute.

The real change recently is that economists are now interested in the happiness effect.

Daniel Sgroi and his colleagues at the University of Warwick’s department of industry and organization have found that happy employees are also more productive. In one study, they found that white-collar workers’ productivity increased 10.5 per cent after watching a short, funny video.

Other studies suggest that happy employees are up to twice as productive, stay five times longer at their jobs and take 10 times less sick leave.

Achor’s prescription for raising baseline happiness is:

• Take time each day to think about five things to be grateful for, even if it’s only for 21 days. This can raise your happiness level for six months.

• Write down a pleasant memory or thought every day. This can cut doctors’ visits by 50 per cent and boost your immune system.

• Stop multi-tasking. Do one thing at a time and Achor says your stress will decrease and your health will improve.

• Focus on your strengths, use them every day and you’ll be more energetic, productive and successful.

• Exercise. It has been proven to be as powerful as anti-depressant prescription drugs.

• Meditate. Focusing on breathing in and out will change your brain’s functioning making you more able to have inspired, “eureka” moments.

So, being happy doesn’t require anything as radical as quitting your job or joining a convent.

We now know happiness is not only its own reward, it can make individuals and societies healthier, more successful and more productive.

What’s left to decide is how to use that knowledge. Perhaps like Bhutan, we might want to reject our old measures of wealth and progress and instead to aspire to be the happiest place on Earth.

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